Work on rural transit continues; start date may be delayed

FREEPORT — Pretzel City Transit driver Larry Stees has seen firsthand the benefits of providing low-cost transportation to the public.

Travis Morse

FREEPORT — Pretzel City Transit driver Larry Stees has seen firsthand the benefits of providing low-cost transportation to the public.

Last week, he said, he gave a ride to an elderly couple from the Stephenson Nursing Center. They both used walkers.

Stees took them to Primetable restaurant for dinner and then back to the nursing home.

Without a Freeport transit system, they may never have had that opportunity. Expanding the city system to rural Stephenson County would help even more people get around, including the elderly and disabled, Stees said.

“It’s just great to see people that couldn’t get out before, get out,” Stees said. “We’re servicing people and a lot of them have no other way to get around.”

Planning continues for this area’s new countywide transit system. Organizers say it’s unlikely the system will be ready to launch in April as hoped. The transit plan still needs state approval.

Once the project is authorized, bids will be sought from service providers. Most likely, two or more providers will team up to run the system, which will cover 565 square miles. The plan is to expand Pretzel City Transit’s service area so that it not only includes Freeport but all Stephenson County.

Organizers want to sign a one-year contract with providers, including four optional renewals. This means the contract would be renewed each year for four years. That way, changes — such as dropping a provider — could be made, if necessary.

“It would be very unwise to lock us into any long-term contract with such uncertainty about how it’s actually going to play out in the county,” said Kevin Cooley Sr., Freeport’s transit coordinator.

System details
Initial plans were for a demand-based system that residents would call to request a ride. However, Cooley is investigating the possibility of a combination demand and fixed-route system. With fixed routes, the buses or vans would have designated stops throughout the county.

In his research, Cooley spoke with Julie Main, an associate planner with the city of Galesburg. Galesburg’s transit is restricted to the city limits, but Main provided input on how the fixed-route method functions.

“We feel very blessed to have a transit system,” Main said. “It fulfills a great need in our community.”

New possibilities
Jamall Fisher of Freeport is looking forward to the transit expansion. He doesn’t drive and uses Pretzel City Transit to go shopping and get to appointments in Freeport. Having a system that goes into rural areas would open up new possibilities, he said.

“It would be nice to have a secondary option to get around,” Fisher said.

Funding for the rural transit system comes primarily from state and federal allocations.